Area Rugs | How They're Made

A review of how area rugs are made.

The art of making rugs by hand spans time, geography and cultures. The process of
manufacturing rugs, while recent, has revolutionized the area rug industry. To understand
both methods requires knowledge, and for that you’ve come to the right place.

We know area rugs and we want you to know as much as needed to make a smart purchase
decision.

Below is a comparison between machine made and handmade rugs, the techniques used
to create handmade rugs, and the dyes used to color them. All presented in an easy
to read manner.

This information will help you understand the differences between rug types, why
some wear and last longer, and help explain the wide range of prices.

Plus, perhaps most important, understanding how area rugs are made can help you
be a smarter shopper, help you better determine a rug’s value and keep you
within the borders of your budget.

Human beings or humming machines.

The construction of area rugs is the story of man versus machine. Or, in many cases,
woman versus machine.

If area rugs are a floor covering possibility for your home, any rug you choose
will be constructed by either human hands or factory machines.

And while modern technology enables us to mass produce area rugs in a wide spectrum
of design, color and sizes, there are differences between machine made and handmade
rugs.

Machine made rugs are less expensive and are not considered long term.

With factory made rugs you’ll have flexibility and variety; you can find the
same design, or one close to it, in different sizes and different colors from different
manufacturers.

Woven rugs are created on automated weaving looms in which multiple colors of yarn
are sewn into a backing material. The rugs' elaborate designs are created by the
placement of the different colors of yarn.

For green, indigo, over-dyed with any of a variety of yellow dyes, is used.

Some animal sources of dyes include insects such as Cochineal, found on cacti in
Mexico; Lac, a wild version of Cochineal, found in India and Iran; and Kermes, found
on Oak trees near the Mediterranean.

All three produce a range of reds. Kermes was used in Europe, and Lac in Egypt and
Persia until Cochineal, the cheapest of all three, gradually took their place.

Kermes, the most ancient of all three, has been used even before the 16th century.

The first synthetic dye, Fuchsine (a magenta aniline), was developed in the 1850s.

Shortly after, other synthetic aniline dyes followed. Synthetic aniline dyes made
from coal tar were brilliant, inexpensive, and easy to use; however, they faded
rapidly with exposure to light and water.

In 1903 Nasser-e-Din Shah, the Persian king of Qajar Dynasty, banned the use of
aniline dyes in Persia (Iran).

Persian weavers discontinued the use of synthetic dyes until the modern synthetic
chrome dyes were developed in the years between the First and Second World Wars.

Chrome dyes are colorfast, they retain their intensity despite exposure to light
and water, and are produced in an infinite variety of attractive colors and shades.

But one thing is certain. If you buy an area rug made from natural or synthetic
dyes, you can be confident that it will only improve with time.

In fact, even rugs made with aniline dyes in the late 19th century are valuable
today simply because of their age.

Handmade or machine made, area rugs are one area every smart shopper should know
and understand. This floor covering product is flexible and colorful, a moveable
feast for the eyes. It can coordinate or rejuvenate a room, and it can move through
time, be passed on from one lucky generation to the next.

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